The image of her as a callous and manipulative "she-devil", as claimed by the lawyer of Meredith Kercher, has been well established by the prosecution with lurid details of sex games, drink and drugs.

Meanwhile, the defence, not entirely successfully, tried to portray Knox as a quirky young woman, an innocent - the "Amelie of Seattle", as the lawyer for Raffaele Sollecito, her former boyfriend and fellow accused, called her.

The image of "Foxy Knoxy", a moniker taken from her Facebook, was built upon by the prosecution with details of a YouTube video in which the accused appeared drunk, an email to a friend about having sex with a stranger on a train and a MySpace story about a woman being drugged and raped.

She was portrayed as the free-wheeling American abroad, searching for the exotic, the wild - a promiscuous femme fatal who bought sex aids and lingerie.

During the trial, one of the prosecutors told of how Kercher had chastised Knox for leaving their shared bathroom in a mess, adding that Kercher had been "uncomfortable" about Knox leaving out a transparent wash bag containing contraceptives and a vibrator.

There was also the bizarre testimony of how Knox was found turning cartwheels in the police station while awaiting interrogation, and the account of Natalie Hayward, one of Kercher's fellow exchange students, who said at the police station that she hoped Kercher had not suffered. Knox allegedly replied: "What do you think? She f**king bled to death."

During the trial, prosecutors asserted that Knox, Sollecito and Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast-born drifter, sexually assaulted then stabbed Kercher in a drug-fuelled attack.

All three were found guilty and sentenced to prison.

Knox's appeal, which started last year, has concentrated in the perceived "gaps" in the prosecution's original case, most notably the lack of motive for the killing.

Damningly for Knox, she had originally told the police that she had been in the flat while Kercher was killed. She later retracted this statement, asserting it had been made under police duress.

However, no forensic evidence has been found linking Knox to the crime scene.

At the start of her appeal, Knox gave an impassioned plea, telling the jury: "I am not the person the accusers say I am. They say I am dangerous, devilish, jealous, uncaring and violent. Their theories depend on this, but I was never that girl. People who know me can talk of my real past, not that which is recounted by the tabloids."

During the appeal, public opinion in Italy and abroad seems to have turned in favour of Knox, with the focus shifting towards the inadequacies of the Italian legal system, which many believed rushed the original trial.

Giuliano Mignini, the original prosecutor, was convicted of abuse of office in a separate investigation and sentenced to 16 months in prison, while international investigator reviewing the evidence have been wholly critical of the convictions.

On Monday morning Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito arrived in court to hear the final verdict on their appeal.

At the start of the appeal, Mignini reminded the jury that "it would be superficial to think that just because someone looks innocent that they are not capable of killing".

In a trial that has rested so much appearance and portrayal, Knox's freedom my well come down that just that.